Rare 'shoot to kill' order put out on dangerous Nile crocodile on the loose outside Miami

State wildlife officials have given their agents an unusual order to shoot to kill in the hunt for a young and potentially dangerous Nile crocodile spotted roaming around Miami.

The Nile crocodile, which hails from Africa, can jump higher, run faster and grow to nearly 20-feet, several feet larger than its American cousin, and has a nastier temperament.

And while the American crocodile stays near saltwater like mangroves and estuaries, the Nile crocodile prefers freshwater, making it more likely to come in contact with humans and domestic animals.

Wanted: Florida wildlife officials have given their agents a rare order to shoot to kill in the hunt for a young and potentially dangerous Nile crocodile like the one pictured that is at large near Miami

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials said they know of only one Nile croc on the loose, but experts said at least two others have been caught in the same area.

The commission is investigating where the reptile came from, although it likely escaped from a facility or a local breeder, probably as a hatchling.

‘They get big. They're vicious. The animals are just more aggressive and they learn that humans are easy targets,’ said Joe Wasilewski, a reptile expert and veteran wrangler.

RELATED ARTICLES

Share this article

The American croc ‘is a gentle animal, believe it or not. That's their nature. They're more fish eaters. They don't consider humans a prey source.’

The Nile croc currently at large is only a little over three feet long, not dangerous yet. Still, federal wildlife officials have dispatched a team to kill the animal before it becomes a problem.

Wildlife officials have tried to capture it with a noose or harpoon, but now realize their only chance to kill it will likely be with a rifle, said FWC nonnative wildlife biologist Jenny Eckles. Only FWC agents are authorized to kill it. If it is caught alive, it will be euthanized.

Dangerous pet: Reptile wrangler Joe Wasilewski works with a captured Nile crocodile, caught near his Homestead home

Unwelcome guest: Experts say Nile crocs, which hail from Africa, are can jump higher, run faster and grow to nearly 20-feet, and has a nastier temperament

It's a proactive step in a state plagued by exotic non-native species like the Burmese python, which has overrun the Everglades and upset the delicate ecosystem.

Florida has more invasive amphibians and reptiles than anywhere else in the world, and the pet trade is the No 1 cause, according to a University of Florida study.

No experts believe the Nile crocodile is the next Burmese python, but the python population, which some experts say has grown too big to eliminate, has made them cautious.

According to a study published in January in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, sightings of medium-size mammals are down dramatically — as much as 99 per cent, in some cases — in areas where pythons and other large, non-native constrictor snakes are known to be lurking.

Scientists fear the pythons could disrupt the food chain and upset the Everglades' environmental balance in ways difficult to predict.

Tens of thousands of Burmese pythons, which are native to Southeast Asia, are believed to be living in the Everglades, where they thrive in the warm, humid climate.

While many were apparently released by their owners, others may have escaped from pet shops during Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and have been reproducing ever since.

Reconnaissance mission: Wasilewski checks a canal where a Nile crocodile has been spotted near Homestead, Florida

‘If we don't want to have another Burmese python problem the term is “early detection and rapid response” and that's what we're doing here,’ said Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida professor of wildlife ecology.

His team has spent more than 1,000 hours and endless nights searching by boats and on foot in the canal where the croc was last seen, hoping to spot the red light reflection of its eyes. But Mazzotti said someone captured the reptile in March and let it loose, so the animal is now wary of humans.

Wildlife officials approved killing the crocodile about the same time Hurricane Isaac skirted the state in August. The storm probably sent the crocodile into hiding and it hasn't been spotted since, Mazzotti said.

‘We've only had a few instances where these have escaped into the wild. So it would be unlikely they could get established, but we still don't want to have them in our ecosystem,’ said Eckles.

With reality TV shows glorifying reptile hunting and wrestling, anyone with a penchant for adventure could take the ruling as a license to kill and perhaps mistake the animals.

‘They're going to shoot any crocodile or alligator. It will be the Wild West,’ Wasilewski said.He sneaked up on and caught a sunbathing Nile croc about six months ago at a park not far from the canal where the other Nile croc was last seen.

Slithering visitors: A recent report showed that the proliferation of
pythons coincides with a decrease of mammals in the Florida Everglades

Discarded: At least 1,825 Burmese pythons have been caught
in and around Everglades National Park since 2000, many of them former pets that were freed by their owners when they got too big

Wasilewski keeps the roughly three-foot reptile in a concrete pen with a pool in his yard. He travels the globe lecturing and wrangling reptiles and has a permit to keep them.

Experts say most people can't distinguish between a crocodile and an alligator, let alone differentiate between a Nile and American croc. Alligators are black and have broad, rounded snouts. Crocodiles are grayish and have narrow, tapered snouts.

Niles are dark green or black on top with dark row of spots on the sides. Americans have a lighter olive color with pale yellow sides.

The American croc's skull has a distinct median ridge, while the Nile croc's skull is relatively smooth with a slight hump in the center of the snout. But the differences are nearly impossible for the untrained eye to spot.

Official records on Nile croc sightings in the state are sketchy, but there have been a handful.‘It's a couple of animals. I don't think it's a plague,’ Wasilewski said.

Advertisement

Share or comment on this article:

Rare 'shoot to kill' order put out on dangerous Nile crocodile on the loose outside Miami